Headlines

Music streaming platforms must pay artists more, says EU

The EU has proposed sweeping changes within the music streaming industry to promote smaller artists and make sure underpaid performers are being fairly compensated. A resolution to address concerns regarding inadequate streaming royalties for artists and biased recommendation algorithms was adopted by members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday, highlighting that no existing EU rules currently apply to music streaming services.

Source: Music streaming platforms must pay artists more, says EU

The Right Way to Regulate AI (Opinion)

The past decade’s belated, disjointed, and ultimately woefully insufficient efforts to govern social media’s use of algorithmic systems are a sobering example of the consequences of passively hoping that social benefits will trickle down as an emergent property of technological development. Political leaders cannot again buy the myth—peddled by self-interested tech leaders and investors—that supporting innovation requires suspending government’s regulatory duties.

Source: The Right Way to Regulate AI

ChatGPT will get video-creation powers in a future version 

The web’s video misinformation problem is set to get a lot worse before it gets better, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman going on the record to say that video-creation capabilities are coming to ChatGPT within the next year or two. Speaking to Bill Gates on the Unconfuse Me podcast (via Tom’s Guide), Altman pointed to multimodality – the ability to work across text, images, audio and “eventually video” – as a key upgrade for ChatGPT and its models over the next two years.

Source: ChatGPT will get video-creation powers in a future version – and the internet isn’t ready for it

Disney Exec Warns More Shows May See Fewer Seasons Due to New Actors Deal 

The new collective bargaining agreement struck between the major Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild may have an impact on the longevity of future shows, according to one Walt Disney executive. The increasingly complex terms gives actors more flexibility to move on to projects and makes it more costly to retain them for future seasons, which could lead to shows ending prematurely, warned Grant Michaelson, vice president of business affairs for Disney’s branded television unit.

Source: Disney Exec Warns More Shows May See Fewer Seasons Because of the New Actors Deal | Cord Cutters News

The incredible shrinking podcast industry

Apple has quietly tightened its reporting of how many people listen to podcasts, sending shock waves through an embattled audio industry still reeling from the end of the COVID-era production bubble. The shift, Apple wrote in a blog post, was technical: The dominant podcasting platform had begun switching off automatic downloads for users who haven’t listened to five episodes of a show in the last two weeks.

Source: The incredible shrinking podcast industry

Web3 Streaming Platform Tune.fm Announces $20 Million Raise

Web3 streaming and superfan-monetization platform Tune.fm has announced a $20 million raise and plans to score major label licensing deals. Founded in 2011 by brothers Andrew and Brian Antar, Tune.fm says its Hedera Hashgraph-built JAM token and adjacent “micropayments technology” afford artists “instant royalties” for on-platform streaming. The overarching model also enables creators to pull in between 10 and 100 times more royalties than they would on traditional services like Apple Music and Spotify, according to Tune.fm.

Source: Web3 Streaming Platform Tune.fm Announces $20 Million Raise

Universal Music Preparing Major Layoff Round of ‘Hundreds’

Universal Music Group is reportedly preparing to cut ‘hundreds’ of jobs in Q1, with UMG’s recorded music to be ‘hit the hardest.’ “We continue to position UMG to accelerate its leadership in music’s most promising growth areas and drive its transformation to capitalize on them,” said a spokesperson for UMG on Friday. “Over the past several years, we have been investing in future growth — building our e-commerce and D2C operations, expanding geographically, and leveraging new technologies.”

Source: Universal Music Preparing Major Layoff Round of ‘Hundreds’

Meta Admits Use of ‘Pirated’ Book Dataset to Train AI 

With AI initiatives developing at a rapid pace, copyright holders are on high alert. In addition to legislation, several currently ongoing lawsuits will help to define what’s allowed and what isn’t. Responding to a lawsuit from several authors, Meta now admits that it used portions of the Books3 dataset to train its Llama models. This dataset includes many pirated books.

Source: Meta Admits Use of ‘Pirated’ Book Dataset to Train AI * TorrentFreak

158 million tracks had 1,000 plays or fewer on music streaming services last year

According to Luminate’s 2023 Year-End Music Report, fully 158.6 million tracks each received 1,000 or fewer plays on audio streaming services in 2023. That number amounts to a whopping86.2% of the 184 million music tracks that Luminate measured on audio streaming services at the close of last year via ISRCs. Even more tellingly, a total of 45.6 million tracks received zero plays in 2023.

Source: 158 million tracks had 1,000 plays or fewer on music streaming services last year. 45 million had no plays at all.

Amazon Is Laying Off Hundreds at Prime Video, MGM Studios and Twitch

Amazon is eliminating hundreds of jobs across its film and television studio and Twitch streaming platform in an effort to rein in costs. The e-commerce company has invested billions of dollars into building out its Prime Video service, and acquired MGM for $6.5 billion in 2022. Twitch, Amazon’s videogame streaming platform, is also cutting about 500 roles.

Source: Amazon Is Laying Off Hundreds at Prime Video, MGM Studios and Twitch

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